Domain names are no more a web address these days .They are center of your Internet identity. Selecting the right domain should be as important as naming your product. Given that status, here are some pointers how to find a name that will see you through it all.
Domain Name Should Be Your Website Name
If possible use your sites name as the basis of your domain name for the mere reason that when people think of your website, they'll think of it by name but not every site abides by the convention even when the webmaster owns that domain name. If you use your name in your URL it will be a lot easier for your clients to find you. For instance, when people think of hostgator.com, they don't have to wonder what URL to type into their browser to get there. The name of the site is also the URL.
Suppose if your business or website is called "Apex", but somebody else bears that domain name. Instead, you have some vague domain name, say, "mybusiness.com". When your customers recall that Apex has a product they want, they will type www.apex.com and will land up at your competitor's website.
If you have an existing brand name that you are known for, you will likely not want to dump that name just because you couldn't get the domain name. You might simply want to try to buy over the domain name from the current owner. Check up the "whois" information for the domain, and contact that person listed to see if he is inclined to sell it. You probably should be aware that he will possibly charge a higher fee than you will usually get when buying new domains.
On the other hand, if you are just beginning, you might choose the cheaper alternative of trying to get a domain name first, and then naming your website or business after the domain that you have adopted. So if you have acquired the domain name "apex.com”, then your website and business might be named "Apex" or "apex.com". This seems a little like setting the cart before the horse, but that's the reality if you don't want to lose out on the Internet.
Plurals
Very often a domain name will be free in the plural but not in the singular form. If your preferred choice of domain name is not available, the domain name registrar will propose alternate forms of the name you typed. For example, if you wanted toy.com, and it was taken, it might suggest forms like:
thetoy.com
mytoy.com
toys.com
and the like, if they were not already taken as well. If you take the "the..." and "my..." forms of the domain name, you must always remember to advertise your site with the full form of the name. Otherwise, people are expected to forget to append the essential "the" or "my".
Search terms play a roll in both plural and singular versions as people search a term differently depending on what they are thinking at the moment. It is always best to own both versions if you can. It is very probable that both versions will get traffic once branded or if it’s a generic term, both domain versions will get natural traffic.
This is the one time that a single letter can make one of the biggest differences in a domains value and search volume for a term! Example for daily searches for Toy and Toys:
- Toy = 718 per day
- Toys = 155,491 per day
Toys get’s about 216x’s the amount of daily searches then toy gets. This would to a great extent affect the sale price if compared or if the two domains ever sold.
Domain Extensions
There are many different extensions available. Generally the .com will always be the most powerful and best especially for businesses. Since it is one of the oldest extensions, .com shows that your business has been around for a while and that you have a well-established presence on the Web. However, .org .edu are usually for informational only sites but can rank well since Google looks at them as authorised sites.
If you have no good .com alternative, start with .net and .org first. Also, be sure to consistently promote your website as a .net or .org whatever you may choose.
If your website or business caters to the local community, such as a pizza delivery business or recruitment agency or the like, then it adds up to get a country-specific domain. You actually benefit from bearing such a local domain for the people in your country know that they're dealing with a local entity.
If you get a domain name with an extension other than ".com", make certain that you promote your business or website with the full domain name. For example, if your domain name is "videosandbooks.net", be sure that when you advertise your site or business, call it "videosandbooks.net" not "videosandbooks". Otherwise people will assume a ".com" extension and travel to the wrong place.
Domain Length
A short domain name is less forgettable, but less likely to be available whereas a longer domain is harder to remember. Just because a domain is a little longer doesn’t make it bad. For example, VideosAndBooks.com is meaningful, relevant and unforgettable even though it is rather long. On the other hand, AnExampleOfALongDomain.com is too long, difficult to remember and inclined to errors. The other extreme is unnecessary abbreviation.VAB.com is meaningless because videosandbooks.com works much butter. Aspire for some balance while taking into account ease of use.
Long domain names have your site keywords in them which are important as some of the search engines, use keywords in a domain name as part of the search algorithm. For example, if you have a site on free C++ compilers with a domain name like freecpluspluscompilers.com, it might make out better in a search for "free C++ compilers" than any other site.
Hyphens
Hyphens are difficult to remember, type and prone to user input mistakes. It’s a misconception that hyphens ameliorate search engine rankings, the leading search engines now focus on content and pay only limited attention to the URL itself. Avoid them as much as you can. Though on a favorable note hyphenated names are less likely to be registered already.
Reporting a domain name with hyphens can be awkward. Clients have a habit of leaving the hyphen and typing in the wrong URL. Many users are used to typing things like videosandbooks.com but not videos-and-books.com. When people recommend your site to their friends verbally, having hyphens in your domain name leads to more expected errors. They'll probably leave out the hyphens and end up at your competitor's site. Likewise domain name with too many dashes will make it harder for you to use it when you are meeting with people in person. One is fine but if you have problems pronouncing it in less than a couple of seconds it’s credibly best to reconsider it.
Avoid Trademark Infringement
Many companies peculiarly those with strong brand names are more and more protective of their trademarks. Before you register a domain name, carry on a trademark search to find any trademarks that conflict with the name you want. If the PTO declines your application to register a trademark because it conflicts with an existing trademark, the government will still charge the filing fee. You can do your own trademark search at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site, or you can hire someone to do it for you.
If you take a domain name that conflicts with any one of the millions of commercial names that already exist and if you've put money and effort into marketing your website and so are impelled to give the domain name up, your Web-based business is likely to suffer a damaging blow. Any company that registers a trademark has the right to protect their trademark and has the right to notify you that your domain name is infringing upon their trademark.
If a person runs a website using a domain name that contains someone else's trademark e.g. "www.adidasstuff.com", people who visit that domain name are likely to be confused and believe that the site is associated with Adidas when it is not. People may also mistakenly go to this website thinking it's connected with the other company, only to discover that it is not. Deliberate misspellings of and similarities to trademarked names e.g. www.amizon.com may also be regarded trademark infringements. Merely because a company has not registered all variations of its name or trademark as domain names does not imply that others can use those domain names. If your domain name has the potential of confusing the public into thinking the trademark holder is somehow affiliated with your web site, they may bring infringement claims against you. The courts would have to make the decision based upon the trademark laws and if your domain name, as a matter of fact, has the potential of confusing the public.
Expiring Domains
Expired domains are those whose original registrant fails to renew normally due to website closings or companies dying out of business. Within the list of expired domains are a few real gems. There are many services that permit you to monitor expired and soon to expire domains for a fee. Some conceive recently expired domains with good traffic and rankings allow you to benefit from another person's hard work but you shouldn’t expect that to last. People consistently come back to a website for a reason. If your theme is very different from the original site, visitors will stop coming back because the information or resource they previously had access to is no longer there. If you acquire such a domain, make sure your content is very closely related to that of the old site. You might prefer to also check that the old site has completely terminated operations. If the previous site still exists under a different domain, loyalists sooner or later find their way back there and could create a damaging image on the old domain that is now yours.
Ownership
While registering a domain, get it registered under your name or your company. A great deal can happen within a short space of time if you are registering through your host. Just because you purchase a domain name doesn't mean you own it. Some less reputable providers register domain names in their own name. Companies go out of business or you change hosts, scams, scandals and more. Making sure you own the domain reduces the risk of losing your domain name in the future. You can check who owns a domain name by using a lookup call a WHOIS search. If you view the registrant details the name here is the legal owner. Check your host’s domain registration policy. If there are extra expenses to transfer your domain, try to register it yourself instead.